This fall, Southwest Airlines is debuting a new nonstop flight between San Diego and Fresno where engers will have convenient access to three of California’s top national parks.
The new route is in addition to expanded service to Tampa, Fla., and a continuation of several seasonal nonstops to such destinations as Columbus, Ohio; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Milwaukee; and Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, all announced this month by Southwest.
The Fresno nonstop, to start Oct. 2, will operate twice a day Sundays through Fridays and once a day on Saturdays, Southwest said. Already flying nonstop to Fresno from San Diego is Alaska Airlines, which provides service two to three times per day. Beginning in April, it will increase service to three to four times daily, San Diego airport spokesperson Nicole Hall said Monday.
Fresno Yosemite International Airport is the closest commercial airport, at under 100 miles distance, to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks.
Southwest’s announcement comes as the San Diego International Airport prepares to open in late summer the first phase of its new Terminal 1 project that will eventually accommodate 30 gates — 11 more than what is housed in the existing 1960s-era facility. When Terminal 1 opens this year, there will be 19 gates, and by 2028, the full complement of gates will be operational.
Southwest said the expanded flights to Tampa, also beginning in October, will operate Thursdays through Mondays, which is up from what had been just once a week, on Saturdays. Similarly, San Diego’s seasonal flights to Columbus, Colorado Springs, Milwaukee and Cabo, which operate at different times of the year, will continue. Still unknown is the schedule for those flights after Nov. 1 because Southwest’s overall schedule hasn’t been published yet for that time period.
Once the new flights become operational in October, Southwest will be offering a total of 119 departures to 33 markets during peak travel days. By comparison, the airline’s largest operation from San Diego was in 2019, when there were 123 departures to 36 markets.
